Charting my Course on Steemit

Two days ago I was challenged by my fellow writer, @zakludick, in his recent post on charting his course, to also write a post about my goals on Steemit. Which now that I am writing this poses an interesting thought. I know why I JOINED Steemit, but until now I had not given much thought on my ultimate goals here.

Now before I get started with the goals I am dreaming up for myself, I would like to introduce you to what this challenge entails, in case any of you reading this want to do a similar post too:

What is your Steemit goal? (In one sentence, make it as specific and as measurable as possible)
Prioritise these three aspects of Steemit for you: Posting, Curating, Commenting
Name up to 5 groups/communities that help you to achieve your goal.
Name at least one measurable future goal for: 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months.
And because everything should end on a sweet note... name your favorite dessert!
Challenge 3-5 people to chart their course!
Use the #chartyourcourse tag

I must say, using these principles to define your goals is quite handy. I love that it needs to be measurable, which reminds me of the SMART principles: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. With that in mind, let's begin to work through some of my goals on Steemit.

1. MY STEEMIT GOALS

Image Source: Pixabay

I guess I should focus on what brought me here and what I write about mostly. As an author, screenwriter, gamewriter and journalist, I came to Steemit with the intention to talk about my projects and writing in general. Recently on my blog, I actually defined why I use so many sites and what each one is for. I can summarise it here quickly:

Author Shaun M Jooste Blog: News and updates on novels.
Celenic Earth Publications: My Publishing Company News and Products
AIR Entertainment: Gaming News Website owned by Andi Hodgetts and myself.
Stage 32: The Facebook of Screenwriters. My film script loglines and pitches go here.
Patreon: For subscribers to receive special freebies and updates.

Which brings me to Steemit. Why have another platform when I have all the above? Well, the initial draw-in was the income that can be gained by simply posting articles. Yet, as I spent more and more time on Steemit, I realised I was obtaining a greater following, and much quicker, than any other platform. I realised how Steemit aided me in drawing more followers to my work and websites. Besides, here I could write about my other non-writing things, like bonsais, photography, guitar, music, etc.

So how does this relate to goals? For me right now I am focussed on posting quality posts daily without missing a day, while increasing my followers count so that more and more people can read about my writing projects. And by doing this, becoming part of a much larger community of writers the world over.

2. PRIORITISING STEEMIT ASPECTS

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The three aspects mentioned in the challenge are Posting, Curating and Commenting. That's pretty much the order for me. Clearly posting takes preference over everything, since that is the bread and butter of Steemit. Curating, or voting at least, is secondary for me, since I like to upvote to let others know I value their articles. And then Commenting is a close second, if not equal to Curating. I love interacting with those that comment on my articles, since it creates such a vibrant atmosphere.

I would like to add Following to this list. Even though it would be adding to the end of the list, following others and obtaining followers is very important, since creating a huge following helps in getting word about my novels and projects out.

3. SUPPORTING GROUPS AND COMMUNITIES

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I am part of so many discord and facebook Steemit Communities. I am glad to say that choosing 5 of them that have supported me the most is easy. You will usually find them tagged in my posts:

@psas : Proudly South African Streemers was my very first introduction to Steemit.
@schoolofminnows : The group Steempunks that was started by fellow South African writer @lanmower runs this school which has brought the greatest support for me so far.
@teamsouthafrica : As the name implies, another South African group that shows great support for one another's work. I only recently joined this group and have already seen massive benefits from being part of the team.
@adsactly : One of my posts were recently showcased by this group and received the Post of the Day award. The group has a wide span of support, not only in posting but in cryptocurrency management as well. They have wonderful competitions that I sometimes take part in.
@tpot : Another community that is huge. Most of my competitions are part of their weekly contests and I have grown close to these members over time. This was one of the first communities I joined that helped me grow my following rapidly.

4. MEASURABLE FUTURE GOALS

Image Source: Pixabay

Well, it's hard to measure daily posts, especially if I miss some days. So I will go for the one goal I can measure: number of followers.

1 Month: 500 followers
3 Months: 2k followers
6 Months: 5k followers
12 Months: Over 10k followers

5. FAVOURITE DESSERT

Image Source: Pixabay

This depends largely on my mood or how much I had eaten before. Basically, Malva pudding and Pecan Nut Sunday both have first place in my heart... uhm, I mean tummy.

6. CHALLENGE OTHERS

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Here are the peeps I would like to see do this challenge this most. Apologies if you already did and I missed it.

And as for 7. I have included the #chartyourcourse tag.

So that's it from me for this challenge. I hope you enjoyed reading this post and learnt something new from me. And since I have already taken up so much of your time, this is me heading out....

Shaun exits stage left.

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@shadowolfdg is a steemPunk